possibility... » Story in job search

Introducing … “Career Kick Start for Recent or Soon-to-be Graduates Program

Shelley — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:34:17 +0000

I’m delighted to announce my new program, Career Kick Start for Recent or Soon-to-be Grads. Brief info below is from the press release. You can also read a more detailed program description. I have another program and a workshop under development as well. More info is available here.

Career Kick Start for Recent or Soon-to-be Graduates Program
December 18, 2007 (Vancouver, BC)
In a five week one-on-one training program, story and communication facilitator Shelley Hourston guides recent or soon-to-be graduates through a process that highlights their strengths and expertise, significantly increasing their confidence. Participants develop a ‘portfolio’ or collection of stories demonstrating their experience and skills. They can then use these stories to communicate their strengths to potential employers. In the words of one participant: “Today’s interview was such a testament to our sessions! I used story examples to answer a lot of the questions and did not have any problems with the ‘big’ questions as I usually do.” Gift certificates for Career Kick Start for Recent Graduates are now available. [more]

A definitive guide to writing your own stories

Shelley — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:09:25 +0000

Annette Simmons, author of numerous books, including The Story Factor, has a new title called Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: How to Use Your Own Stories to Communicate with Power and Impact. In this book, Simmons provides a guide to developing personal stories to cover any scenario we are likely to encounter in our professional (and personal) lives, including: Who-I-am stories, Why-I-am-here stories, Teaching stories, Vision stories, Value-in-action stories, and I-know-what-you-are-thinking stories. Full of examples to illustrate her ideas, this book describes why story is so powerful and when and how to use stories successfully. If you are unsure of the value of story in communicating your character and expertise, this book will convince you. If you are already a believer, this book is a treasure and a lot of fun to read.

You can read more about Annette Simmons and her work at her website, Group Process Consulting.

Does your story show through your resume?

Shelley — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:00:00 +0000

In an article in BusinessWeek (February 22, 2005), Liz Ryan said: “We are emerging from a dull age in which the dominant paradigm was that your resume had served its purpose if it listed your jobs and employers in a reasonably accurate fashion. Yuck! There’s no story in that. The fact is, you did what you did at each juncture for a reason, and your resume has to get that across.”

Don’t wait for the inteview to describe your motivation for changing positions. Instead of the typical bland job title and a date, Ryan suggests including an additional bullet point that describes a [positive] reason for leaving jobs you’ve listed. When you list projects or accomplishments, explain why they were important to your employer. Make connections between events and activities in your story to desirable attributes from the potential employer’s perspective. Ryan offers the example of linking your experience of playing semipro ball to cooperation and team experience in the workplace.

“You’ve got to paint a picture by putting a lot of yourself in your resume–not just your degrees and titles…”